Truck bomb hits increasingly violent northern Iraq

The attack killed at least 19 people Thursday, two days after another bomb left three US soldiers dead. Insurgents may be moving north as coalition forces push them out elsewhere.

ByDavid Montero, CorrespondentSeptember 10, 2009

A truck bomb killed 19 people today in a Kurdish village in northern Iraq, and police moments later averted a second attack by killing the driver of another vehicle before he could detonate his explosives.

The attacks occurred about 20 miles east of Mosul, in an area considered one of the last insurgent strongholds.

Some analysts believe attacks are on the rise in the north as Al Qaeda has been pushed out of Baghdad and other large cities by United States-led coalition forces.

The blast in the village of Wardek, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, seemed calculated to fan ethnic tensions between Kurds and Arabs, whose politicians are embroiled in a bitter dispute over claims to territory and oil.

Women and children were among the dead and many houses were destroyed, police said.

It was the deadliest day for the Americans since June 29, when four soldiers were killed in Baghdad. The next day, most U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq's cities, where their movements have since been restricted, though they have greater latitude in the countryside. Seven American soldiers died in August.